zeke
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Peekaboo slot 2023
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Post by zeke on Oct 13, 2020 6:18:33 GMT -8
Let's say you are planning a 6-9 day trip. What kind of variety for dinner entrees is your norm? Are you OK with eating the same thing for breakfast every day? What about lunches? Mostly, I am just looking to start a conversation here about what kind of variety we are comfortable with.
OK, for me, I am fine with repeating the same thing for breakfast, and maybe having only 2 choices for my lunches. I can eat the same dinner every night, but would prefer at least an occasional change, like every third dinner is a second option.
Looking at a 9 day paddle trip in January, where I do not have to think about food weight, I can see allowing for 4 different dinner entrees as well as 4 different lunch choices. Breakfasts will most likely be identical. I mean, I eat the same breakfast daily at home, so why change. As far as that goes, I eat predominantly only 2 choices for lunch daily. My kayaking lunches will be much different from my home ones, though.
If the weather was going to be colder, more options would make it into my food bag. I am just not that interested in hot meals for breakfast when it is already 70º by 7 am. Sometimes we can get out of the boats for lunch, but it is nice to also have options that can be eaten while sitting in the boat.
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tomas
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Post by tomas on Oct 13, 2020 6:27:00 GMT -8
I typically try to have some variety in what I eat with the notable exception of breakfast which is usually a mixture of oatmeal, dried fruit, and coffee.
Lunch has always been something that I struggle with because I enjoy actually sitting down and taking the time to eat. I have pulled out the stove many times to boil up some soup for lunch.
For dinner I try can easily do 4-5 nights without repeating myself. After that it starts repeating. It doesn't hurt that I don't mind the prepackaged freeze dried stuff.
On a canoe/kayak trip where I can carry more the variety will greatly vary to include fresh food.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Oct 13, 2020 7:41:29 GMT -8
Dinner and lunch I vary over such a timeframe. Honestly I’ll grab from my impulse buy at REI dinner selections box...Though I’ve favorites I’ll revisit past a week or so. Breakfast is more standardized, even at home oatmeal is my goto. I’ll vary condiments a bit.
Unless there’s some bad portages canoeing tends to free me from freeze dried at least for the first few days. Fresh food a bit more elaborately prepared is one of my benefits when boating imho.
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Post by bobcat on Oct 13, 2020 8:53:48 GMT -8
I usually do a 3-day rotation for dinner. 3 different entrees, repeat the cycle as needed. This also keeps food packing pretty simple. Lunches are more about how quickly things spoil-bagels, then tortillas or crackers. Breakfast-I bring oatmeal for every morning, but seems like there are always days when I just eat granola bars; oatmeal is reliably the last thing left over, and my emergency food for an extra day.
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texasbb
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Hates chicken
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Post by texasbb on Oct 13, 2020 9:40:12 GMT -8
Breakfast is always the same. Lunch is usually the same, with maybe 2 options on a long trip. For supper I cycle through as many different dehydrated meals as I can, but often have repeats. I'm far more concerned about calories, weight, and no required cleanup than about variety, taste, ambiance, etc.
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null
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Posts: 578
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Post by null on Oct 13, 2020 12:50:53 GMT -8
For me, every meal is different. I might double up on something like Peanut Butter lunch in order to finish off the entire (small) jar over 2 meals. Especially if you're paddling, just look at some online restaurant menus and choose 6-9 meals you like. Bring some dry ice so that you can have maybe 4 days of fresh foods.
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Post by Coolkat on Oct 13, 2020 13:03:38 GMT -8
I'll be watching this thread to see if I can glean good ideas. My breakfasts are either hot oatmeal or granola with powdered milk. Lunch easy to get some variety in. It's supper that I have issues with, hard for me to get a variety and if I'm at elevation it's even harder to force myself to eat.
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Post by cweston on Oct 13, 2020 13:22:37 GMT -8
My basic scheme:
Breakfast: coffee, plus whatever I can choke down. Most of what I eat goes into my hipbelt pocket and is nibbled away at throughout the morning.
I usually also have some jerky and energy candy that I tap into on the trail.
Lunch: here's where variety comes in: on a multiple day trip, I probably have jerky, salami, cheese, a couple kinds of nuts or nut-based mixes, a few kinds of dried fruit, some crackers, some candy, kind bars, etc. I eat a different subset of items each day.
Dinner: Mary Jane's Farms meals. There are 5-6 that I like, so I have repeats some nights on a longer trip.
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ErnieW
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I want to backpack
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Post by ErnieW on Oct 13, 2020 16:23:46 GMT -8
Let's say you are planning a 6-9 day trip. What kind of variety for dinner entrees is your norm? Are you OK with eating the same thing for breakfast every day? What about lunches? Mostly, I am just looking to start a conversation here about what kind of variety we are comfortable with. I grew up eating cereal and milk six days a week then eggs on Sunday so the same breakfast every day is no issue for me. It is kind of a comfort. No energy in deciding what to eat and I think my body likes that consistency. I'm not sure I look at it as breakfast, lunch and dinner. More like food in the morning to get started, snacking during day then a larger amount of food to catch up on calories and to sleep warm. If it is going to be possibly crappy weather that night it might make more sense to cook "dinner" in the morning or during the day. That in a way provides variety.
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Post by bobcat on Oct 13, 2020 18:03:29 GMT -8
When the weather’s really cruddy, I have been known to eat jerky, trail mix and a granola bar for supper in my tent, which swaps with cooking a dinner for lunch somewhere on the trip!
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BigLoad
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Pancakes!
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Post by BigLoad on Oct 14, 2020 6:24:21 GMT -8
Breakfast: One option for four days or less, add a second for longer trips. The second option gets used about 1/4 of the days. Lunch: Usually not more than snacks. It's sort of the same collection of things in different balance every day. Dinner: Usually heavy on 2-3 items (not the same on every trip), but eating enough after a hard day is sometimes a challenge, so I generally carry a couple alternate meals that also serve as emergency reserve.
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snappypepper
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www.alltheadventures.com
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Post by snappypepper on Oct 14, 2020 8:57:51 GMT -8
Breakfast is usually oatmeal or granola. Different flavors are the most variety there. Lunch is generally snacks...jerky, dried fruit, peanut m&ms, or whatever else sounds good at the time. Dinner is always different. We bring a variety of freeze dried entrees and I usually bring a package of ramen too. I bring a few different flavors of Mio and a plastic mug to make my "bug juice" in the evenings when I'm sick of plain water.
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rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on Oct 22, 2020 4:51:16 GMT -8
zeke, you’ve witnessed my approach. Breakfast is almost always oatmeal and coffee, lunch may alternate between crackers/cheese and dried salads (think lentil or rice-based salads, made at home and dehydrated). Those latter are better for bulk/weight than the crackers, so the longer the trip, the more I’ll lean on salads. I almost never repeat a dinner on a trip of any length. I have so many good recipes that there’s no need. But there are certain dishes I take on almost every trip—hamburger gravy with mashers, “Thanksgiving on the Trail” (modified from Sarbar’s recipe), and a new favorite, Thai Mango Chicken which I got from one of Dicentra’s books.
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crawford
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Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.--Edison
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Post by crawford on Nov 9, 2020 18:35:54 GMT -8
I guess I vary a bit Breakfast always includes coffee, hot if I'm making oatmeal and could be cold if I'm having a protein bar and dried fruit. Lunch is often street taco shells with PB&J, dried salami or sausage, or possibly tuna. I'll add in some nuts, crackers, and some dried fruit for the sugar. Dinners are usually hot meals. I almost always take my version of shepherds pie and stroganoff. I may have some stuffing and chicken or my version of backpackers Pad Thai, which is really just a dressed up ramen. Throw in a mac and cheese with some dried sausages and I can be pretty happy with that mix over 10 days. I bring enough snacks to replace a dinner if I need with some jerky and dried nuts/fruit if I'm just too tired to mess with cooking.
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Post by Adr1an on Nov 17, 2020 2:42:42 GMT -8
I don't mind eating the same food every day for breakfast or dinner. What I noticed that I am unable to do is eating the same food at breakfast, lunch and dinner. My food really needs to have a different taste at least one time per day, whatever food it is, otherwise after the first day eating the same food at breakfast, lunch and dinner, I have serious difficulty in chewing and swallowing it. In the mornings, however, I always prefer something hot/warm: even in the summertime when sleeping in my tent, in the early mornings is quite cold, so starting the day with something hot or warm I noticed that it truly gives a great boost to my mood making me feel great for the rest of the day. Adrian www.HitchhikingTips.com
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